Ed Sheeran settles Photograph song-theft lawsuit

Ed Sheeran has settled a lawsuit in which he was accused of stealing parts of his song ‘Photograph’ from the Matt Cardle track ‘Amazing’. The case was brought against him in June last year by the latter song’s writers, Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, papers were filed last week to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be resurrected at a later date. Terms of the settlement are not known, but Harrington and Leonard had been seeking $20 million in damages.

Last year, lawyers representing Sheeran and his songwriting partner Johnny McDaid off of Snow Patrol attempted to have the case dismissed on the grounds that the lawsuit was really long and boring. Since that failed back in January, attempts to reach this settlement seem to have been embarked upon.

In March, the writers of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’ were given songwriting credits on Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’ without even having to launch legal action. Whether or not Harrington and Leonard will now be credited on ‘Photograph’ remains to be seen.